


Runaway Pride

by bernard_greybridge



Category: RWBY
Genre: 5+1 Things, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Amputation, Angst, Blood, Blood and Injury, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Faunus Harriet Bree, Gen, Harriet Bree is a Faunus, Hurt No Comfort, Minor Spoilers, Minor Spoilers for Volume 8 Chapter 12, Self-Harm, Self-Mutilation, Spoilers, Spoilers for Volume 8 Chapter 12, Unhappy Ending, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 04:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30066444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bernard_greybridge/pseuds/bernard_greybridge
Summary: Harriet learns a lot of things growing up in Mantle.(Very Minor Spoilers for Volume 8 Chapter 12)
Relationships: Harriet Bree & Tortuga (RWBY)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	Runaway Pride

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I’m still a BNHA writer. (I even accidentally wrote “quirk” instead of “semblance” multiple times this fic.)

Harriet is 12 when she learns that she’s supposed to hate herself.

Her mother just gifted her with a new pair of running shoes for her birthday. Both of her parents had taken up extra shifts in the mines in order to afford them. And her father had knitted her a new hat to match them.

She begs them profusely to let her go on a jog outside the house so she can break the shoes in. She grovels and pleads and whines as they prepare to go to work.

Her parents sigh and just give her one simple rule.

No going beyond The Crater.

All of the neighbors are out and about to keep an eye on Harriet as her parents leave for work. Harriet laces up her new shoes, looping little bunny ears like her mother taught her. Then she carefully puts on her new hat. Her father had left little holes in the beanie so her hare ears can move around comfortably.

She sprints out of the house. The Crater is now her obstacle course. Everything in front of her is just another hurdle to jump over. It’s a race against herself. Her long, brown, fluffy ears twitch at her speed.

She’s not even aware she crosses the boarder until she sees a group of kids playing amongst themselves while an old man supervises. She does not recognize them. Nonetheless, the young faunus waves at them in greeting, asking if she can join whatever game they were playing.

The kids wave back, but as she approaches, the old man intercepts.

As Harriet walks back home, she tucks her ears inside the hat.

And she never wears those shoes again.

She learns a lot of new words that day.

Harriet is 15 when she learns what loss is.

There was an explosion at the mines. A lot of faunus didn’t make it. Like her parents.

She gets sent to an orphanage like all the other kids.

While the children cry and the adults attempt to comfort them, Harriet finds herself with her face free of tears.

She wasn’t sad.

She was angry.

Her parents taught her how to run. How to move on. How to keep moving forward.

This is just another hurdle.

She grabs her mother’s favorite pair of running shoes and her father’s old boxing gloves.

She learns she has a knack for hitting stuff.

And she learns that she likes it.

Harriet is 18 when she learns that she doesn’t have anyone to stop her from doing whatever she wants.

She’s of legal age now. She has the money her parents left her. Plus her savings from all of her part time jobs in the past years.

She already knows that she wants to be a huntress. To be in the military. To be in Atlas.

She looks in the mirror of the grimy Slums bathroom.

She looks at her long, brown, fluffy ears.

She looks at how they twitch underneath her gaze. Her mother’s own ears were white. But her father’s furry tail shared the same dark brown color as Harriet’s.

She looks at the razor in her hand.

She learns how much she is sick of being mistreated.

She learns how to scrub blood out of her hair.

And she learns how easy it is to lie in academy applications.

Harriet is 21 when she learns about tokenization.

She is the youngest person to have ever been promoted to an Ace Operative rank.

Somebody newly graduated from Atlas Academy immediately being recruited into the Ace Ops was unheard of.

Until her.

It makes sense, though. They’re a perfectly balanced team.

Clover is somewhat of a Jack of All Trades. Or more accurately, a Wild Card. He stands to be the youngest appointed leader of the Ace Ops, and previously held the title for youngest recruited member. He is an all rounder, which is perfect for his unpredictable semblance.

Vine is flexible and precise. His assets are his evasion and accuracy. He fights with a level head, a contrast to the other more fervid spirits. He is calm and collected, which keeps them focused.

Elm is a total powerhouse both in close quarters and in ranged attacks. She puts everything she has into every hit she deals. Her passionate vitality pushes them all forward and boosts them up. She is the epitome of offensive strength.

Harriet herself takes pride in her speed above all else. That’s her semblance, after all. She‘s limber and dextrous. She’s who to call if something needs to be done, and needs to be done fast.

Then there’s Tortuga.

She is a tortoise faunus. The only faunus in the squad. On paper, at least. A rarity in the military. Much less among the Ace Operatives.

She is short and stout. The sturdy shell that covers the entirety of her back is a brilliant turquoise color.

She looks nothing like a huntress.

Immediately, Harriet sees her as competition. Or dead weight.

But the older woman simply welcomes her to the team with open arms.

Tortuga is meant to be their defense. She is meant to endure the blows that come their way. Her semblance, Slow and Steady, allows her to slow down time around her. Which just seems counterintuitive to Harriet’s own semblance.

Apparently her shell is not just for show, either. It supposedly has a higher constitution than the rest of her body, so it’s a fall back when her aura gets too low.

Harriet scoffs.

Why learn to take hits when she can just run away and avoid them altogether?

The first thing Tortuga says to her is that she likes her hair.

Harriet keeps most of it the same dark brown, but she bleached her bangs white. The white is parted into two tufts, resembling rabbit ears. She also keeps the sides of her head shaved, giving herself a mohawk.

She tells the others that it‘s better suited for running.

She tells herself that it is a reminder. A reminder of how she overcame all of her obstacles. A reminder of how she moved on.

So as Tortuga compliments her hair, all Harriet can think is that the only thing this faunus is going to do is slow them down.

And Harriet refuses to slow down.

She learns to ignore.

She learns to hate the innocent.

She learns to prevent bridges from being built.

And she learns that resilience is nothing more than conformity.

Harriet is 24 when she learns about expendability.

The General introduces them to Marrow.

Another faunus.

It’s funny how she doesn’t recognize his name among the army soldiers prior to Tortuga’s death.

Harriet supposes that his semblance is a better alternative to Tortuga’s, at least.

She learns that faunus are replaceable.

She learns that soldiers are replaceable.

She learns that huntsmen are replaceable.

She learns that people are replaceable.

She learns that she probably is, too.

Harriet is 27 when she unlearns about expendability.

She loses to Team RWBY.

She loses Clover.

She loses Penny.

She loses Marrow.

She loses Winter.

In a way, she loses Ironwood.

In every way, she loses herself.

Harriet has been running her whole life, and exhaustion has finally caught up to her.

She‘s tired.

And she doesn’t know what she has learned anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m @berning_bridges on Twitter and bern-the-bridge on Tumblr <333


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